BAI Updates
August 2007
New doings at the Latchis: Latchis 4
Latchis 4 is the working name for our new 99 seat theatre-in-progress at 48 Main Street. When complete, Latchis 4 will add new performance and film space to the Latchis complex. Most of Brattleboro’s memories of this space begin with the great Jade Wah Chinese Restaurant. After that it was home to New England Youth Theatre. Now, since the Youth Theater has moved to a free-standing home of its own, Brattleboro Arts Initiative and Latchis Corporation are excited to be making plans for Latchis 4.
The décor of Latchis 4 will be sleek and modern, and it will be well-equipped to host small-scale live events as well as first run, art and independent films. The addition of this theatre will also make room for more of the superb Live at the Latchis performances we’ve all come to enjoy on the Main Stage.
Even in what we are calling its “pre-construction glory,” you can see that Latchis 4 has the “bones” that make the Latchis so special: terrazzo floors, art deco façade, and historic streetscape. Since it will be a little while before we can get going on renovations, we’re using the space now and then as is, and encourage you to attend a Latchis 4 event, so you can say “you knew it when.”
On September 23 at 6:00 p.m. Lisa McCormick, renowned local singer-songwriter (and finalist in the Chock Full o’ Nuts theme song contest) will perform an unplugged sneak preview of her new CD Talisman Groove @ Latchis 4. Well known for her 2003 release, Mystery Girl, Lisa’s elegant command of language, unforgettably intimate vocals, and fluid acoustic guitar combine to create a deeply human portrait of love. Her new CD has been long awaited by the growing numbers of Lisa McCormick fans and will be available at www.lisamccormick.com and retail locations. (Listen to Mystery Girl selections on her website. You’ll be hooked.)
Brattleboro Arts Initiative is delighted to present Lisa McCormick @ Latchis 4 as a pre-show tidbit before Hilltown Folk presents folk-pop icon Suzanne Vega (“Luka”) on the Main Stage at 7:30 p.m. During Suzanne’s performance, take time to view Nimble Arts’ photo collaboration with In-Sight Photography in the Latchis Gallery for September (changes monthly for Gallery Walk). What a vision! One night, two live events in two performance spaces, two movies (don’t forget those!), and one great community appreciating a mixed media of Arts in Brattleboro’s own Latchis.
May 2007
Fostering education in the arts has always been part of Brattleboro Arts Initiative’s mission. When the Latchis Project was but a gleam in our founding mothers’ and fathers’ eyes, providing an educational component, either in classes, classroom space, or other arts outreach, played prominently in the planning.
To be honest it has been an elusive vision to fulfill in the traditional way. As time passed, though, we saw that there were other unique educational opportunities waiting for us instead.
How has it played out? In wonderful and unexpected ways!
Here’s a great one: On June 1 Gallery Walk, the Latchis Theatre will be open from 5:00-6:30 with an amazing display of work from the Guilford Central School 7th Grade. This group of terrific kids took a research project on Greek mythology and turned it into a beautiful and informative brochure describing the hand painted murals that ring the main hall of the Latchis Theatre. They’ve encompassed some of the figures depicted in the terrazzo floor, as well as the Zodiac skyscape. BAI looks forward to using the brochure as a valuable resource to educate the public about our murals. In addition, the class studied and made Greek-inspired urns and vases, which will also be on display. Please support these impressive efforts by visiting on Friday, meeting the students, and seeing what they’ve accomplished.
Ending soon is another school-based project, this time from Brattleboro Area Middle School, or BAMS, called Learning, Caring, Doing: It Isn't All Black and White. During the 2005-2006 school year, BAMS students took black and white photos of what it means to be a middle schooler in Brattleboro, Vermont. They chose their favorites to be enlarged and framed. Once the exhibit leaves the Latchis, it will be a permanent art installation at BAMS. The students solicited funds from the community and wrote grants to fund the entire project.
River Gallery School art in Suite 108. Remember our “Book a Room at the Latchis” project? So far, sixteen local artists are displaying their original art in our hotel rooms, and more to come. Among them is student artwork from the River Gallery School and I have to say, it must be the Most Adorable Art Ever Hung in a Hotel Room Ever. Our guests have been tickled by it and so are we.
We love to have students use the theatres. The AWARE program at the high school, guided by BAI board member Naima K. Wade, has made use of the theatre for community work on diversity for the past two years. A screening of the acclaimed film Crash was followed by a panel discussion about the “isms” in our lives. The students in AWARE sponsored an afternoon of teen talent in the Ballroom Theatre. The Voices Project produced by Kingdom County Productions was a professionally mentored show that played around the state, including at the Latchis.
Our old friends New England Youth Theatre used to use the main hall and the Ballroom Theatre for their overflow classes before the big move to their new home down the street.
We will continue to keep the main hall available at minimum expense for daytime school performances sponsored by the Brattleboro Music Center, Windham Orchestra, Music & Art in the Schools, and the Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, and others. Fine and fun classical music, Silk Road instrumentations and Taeko Drummers provide memorable experiences. Opening the doors to 750 elementary school students sets off a hum of energy that lasts for days!
April 2007
Life is very good here at the Latchis Hotel and Theatre. We wintered over in fine style, with the Hotel beating its own records for occupancy despite the lack of snow when snow counted the most. We showed all the Oscar winners at the Latchis Theatre, with the Best Language Foreign Film, The Lives of Others, playing now. As you may have read, the Future of Hollywood crops up in news stories from time to time. We at the Latchis are keeping a close eye on the trends being written about, and plan to be responsive to developments in the film distribution business. What can you do to help? Come to the movies! The Latchis is by far the best movie-going experience around. We’re uniquely beautiful, have a caring and knowledgeable staff, play the best movies -- and never forget that our popcorn is lovingly popped in healthful canola oil and topped with real butter!
Meanwhile, back at the Hotel, we are deep into a new project called “Book A Room at the Latchis” inviting artists to exhibit their artwork in the hotel rooms. Fourteen artists came to the hotel on March 27 to choose their rooms (by lottery and a little horse trading). “Book A Room” is a way for the Hotel to make a meaningful connection to the arts, and allow individual artists to have exposure to the growing number of guests who come to the Latchis Hotel. The works are for sale and all proceeds go to the artist. In addition, we offer each artist a complementary night in “their” room. We’re putting the Latchis Hotel on the map in a new and artful way…not to mention, it’s fun!
Swinging into the theatre for a minute, Ralph Nader fell into our laps on March 31, for a Q&A after An Unreasonable Man, a thought provoking documentary by Henriette Mantel from Newfane. Brattleboro turned out nicely for the matinee on a beautiful day. Another wonderful audience turnout occurred on April 5 for Holding Our Own, Embracing the End of Life, a sensitive documentary by Vermont filmmaker Camilla Roberts, featuring the fabric portraits of Deidre Scherer and the singing of Hallowell. The event was a fundraiser for Brattleboro Area Hospice.
Speaking of fundraisers, the Latchis Theatre is a significant resource for local organizations in their fundraising efforts. We are honored to work with our neighbors, giving them a creative outlet for promoting their own good works.
February 2007
On February 11 a unique and memorable Hurricane came to Brattleboro. Not just any weather event, but an amazing solo performance by Anne Galjour, born “down the bayou” in Cut Off, Louisiana and late of San Francisco where she teaches playwriting at San Francisco State. Performed on the main stage of the glorious Latchis Theatre to an enthusiastic and appreciative audience, Hurricane is the story of six characters, composites of people Anne knew in her early years, living a life of hurricanes and waiting for Wanda to arrive…touching portrayals of fishermen and women, taxidermists, Cajun cooks, oilmen, and a dog, all trying to ride out the storm and make a life.
What makes Hurricane relevant? Who hasn’t had one skirmish with nature in their lives? Hurricane gives the ones who have skirmished in the extreme a voice to their struggle. And isn’t it an act of humanity to feel the losses of others as our own? Hurricane provides that experience in a heartfelt and gently humorous way.
Anne’s tour of Hurricane started at Dartmouth College and took her to the Flynn Theatre in Burlington and the Mass. College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, as well as the Latchis. Along the way The Hopkins Center at Dartmouth commissioned Anne to research a new work, called Class/Divide.
At the Latchis the day after Hurricane, a group of people, aged 13-82, from here and away, revealed bits of their lives as Anne listened and took it all in. This was a story circle, research for Class/Divide, mining the things that bring us together, fuel our divisions, make us distinct. A work in progress, Anne will be back later in the year to reach out further on Class/Divide.
BAI gave Anne the full Brattleboro treatment. She visited New England Youth Theatre’s open house, shopped at the Co-op, ate at Shin La, got the nickel walking tour of downtown, and ended up at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, admiring the art and awed by the revelations in the Hush Hush Project. Plus she got to stay at that classy bastion of Art Deco panache, the Latchis Hotel!
Brattleboro Arts Initiative took on this Live at the Latchis project with help from Entergy Vermont Yankee. Without their sponsorship, the conversation between Brattleboro and Anne Galjour, hopefully the start of a meaningful creative relationship, would not have been possible, and we appreciate their support.
